PSA: Vote in Local Elections Tomorrow
Election Day Tomorrow! No, not a presidential election, although that would be exciting. Or even the congressional elections are the second most important events in which you voted. Maybe you’ve been paying close attention to the politics in your area – the race of mayors, the school council and … everyone else. Or maybe you didn’t, either because of carelessness, or simply because the national news has seemed to drown out all other problems lately.
But it’s not too late! There is still time to find out who to vote for and what races are in your area, as well as find your polling station and vote. Below are a few tips for a voter who procrastinates.
Where to vote
First, you need to find your polling station. It’s not necessarily as easy as it sounds – I typed the addresses of my parents in West Virginia, my grandmother in Delaware, and my own in New York, and I couldn’t find a single site that worked all three times (many 404 addresses ). ). So you might have to be patient and try several different sites.
Try these polling station locators first:
Or google “how to find your voting site” + your state name. If that doesn’t work, call your local election office. If that doesn’t work, ask your neighbor or local social media friends.
Who to vote for
This is where the local newspaper comes in handy, if you still have one. At the very least, the major newspapers will endorse candidates and put forward arguments that you can accept or reject; as an experiment, I googled a random small state county and “local elections” and got at least the names of candidates from a local blogger, but if you haven’t followed the report, your best bet is to ask a friend who inquires about local politics for their recommendations. and then do a little online research to see for yourself.
How to fill out a newsletter
Again, you’ll need a little patience here. Remember the infamous Palm Beach County butterfly vote in the 2000 presidential election? How many people, who would hardly have voted for Pat Buchanan, still pulled the lever? If you can, take a look at a sample ballot paper – if your district offers one – so you don’t read the instructions and take apart some odd ballot design before you drank all your coffee. And as Jesse Singhal writes in his story about the ballot paper, take your time filling it out and ask for help if you need to.
Why should you vote at all
Many of the things that actually affect your daily life are decided locally : what are your state’s abortion laws, how much funding your local public school gets, whether weed is legal or not, and how is it taxed. If you tend to care more about national politics than local politics, also remember that local elected officials are the big league farming team; Today’s student councilor is tomorrow’s congressman. As exciting as big elections are, it’s the little things that add up to real social change. See you at the polling station!